WWE creative head Michael Hayes came up with the idea for exploiting Jerry Lawler's heart attack on RAW a couple of weeks ago. Hayes felt that the angle would get Punk super heat, and it'd carry over with non-Lawler affiliated story lines.

According to a source, Paul Heyman lobbied to have the angle changed to a slightly more tasteful version that would be more true to the Punk character. However, Hayes was said to be unrelenting in pushing his idea.

With CM Punk retaining the WWE Championship against Ryback and John Cena at Survivor Series on Sunday, thereby likely solidifying an expected match with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at Royal Rumble, the sports-entertainment organization's creative team has discussed a scenario where The Straight Edge Superstar would defeat The Great One at the annual January pay-per-view event. This would subsequently lead to Punk defending the title against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXIX, and Johnson facing Cena in a non-title re-match at the same event.